Tales of an Exorcist in Training
by Woman at Arms
Summary: AU. They were exorcists. Their job was to hunt down the restless spirits that tormented the living from the afterlife, or how Allen saw it, to help the souls to rest in peace. If someone's body departed before they could accomplish their dream, then it was his job to make them content to the best of his possibilities.
1. Chapter 1

_**Tales of an Exorcist in Training.**_

_Prologue._

There was the house, the damned house. Everyone in town had recommended not to come near it, no to even look at it. The ominous aura surrounding it added to the rumors: it was haunted.

If he looked closely, Allen could see the curtains move with no logical explanation.

Anyone would be afraid, would turn around and continue their way, go back to their normal life and forget about what couldn't be seen through normal eyes, couldn't be analyzed under a magnifying glass.

The point is, he wasn't anyone. He was an exorcist, he'd chase supernatural happenings, walk head on into them and take the reins, search to understand and give peace to the trapped souls. And this house, this three-story high house, with a rusted fence enclosing a front garden gone wild, ragged curtains that moved on their own and an overall fear inducing atmosphere, would be his first official mission as an exorcist.

_This _was his moment to shine, his moment to save the souls.

A snarl of "Move it, you idiot Moyashi!" and a push that almost made him trip over a stray rock was what brought him back from his musings to reality.

"Aww Yuu-chan~! The kid was just having a moment right there!" came the loud whining from behind him, the merry redhead flowing after the grumpy Japanese that had pushed him aside before. "Weren't you excited at your first mission too?"

"No, I wasn't, and don't call me by that fucking name!" Kanda spat without turning around, glaring at plants in the way with an intensity that would kill them hadn't they already dried long ago.

Allen snorted, already used to the ways of his companions in just the 3 hours that took the trip to the location, and followed after them to the main gate of the house, his briefcase firm in his hand.

"And tell me once again why the hell I have to come with you two, this is at most scratching a level 1 mission!"

"Well, I don't see why either," Allen replied calmly, "as what help can provide someone that has to be reminded of the same thing a thousand times and still not get it?"

"Ok, come here Moyashi" he sighed in defeat, so much for enduring 3 hours if at the end the result would be the same, "you are dead."

Lavi just facepalmed, the kid just was asking for it. But it was fun anyways. Seeing as Kanda was turning around, a hand in his Mugen, he decided it was time for him to intervene.

"Come on Yuu-chan, you can't just jump at conclusions like that! There is still time, no need to rush and kill the joy, is there?" the touchy-feely teen exclaimed, throwing his arm around the white haired boy shoulders.

"Is not jumping at conclusions, is just responding, you know he was asking for it! And I prefer not to waste time, the sooner he is dead, the sooner we are out of here."

"You really should consider taking out that stick up your ass," Allen smartly commented, leaving the arm around him hanging in the air as he walked ahead past the surprised eyes of his companions. Ok, maybe he outdid himself, but he had already lost his manners with the man after 2 minutes of knowing him. "And you can leave if you so much wish so; I'll be finished in a minute here anyways."

There were some noises of struggling behind him, and when looked over his shoulder, Lavi was holding Kanda back, a chorus of "That's it, I'll kill him, I'll fucking kill him" escaping his lips as he waved his katana around.

"Buuuuut Yuu! Your Mugen will go blunt if you use it to cut what it's not supposed to cut! You know what they say about dog blood ruining blades!"

"Then I'll just strangle him, but make it painful! Rip his limbs one by one before! Let go!"

This was getting quite disturbing, Allen liked his limbs, and he didn't like be compared to a dog. How far would Kanda carry his threats? Well, seeing him as angry as he was, he could lose a few fingers if Lavi did let him go.

So, suddenly feeling the need to draw his fingers closer to him, he just waved a quick "see ya' later" before running up the steps to the house's door.

Because in any way you considered it, inside a haunted house was far safer than to stay closer to the scene developing in the garden.

Releasing a sigh of relief at seeing the door open easily with just a creak, he slipped inside.

"Come back here you little fucker!" was the last he heard before slamming the door shut after him.

After calming down for a minute against the door and deeming himself safe, he decided to take a look at the barely lit insides and reconsidered his safety.

The house was kind of creepy, no doubts it'd arise rumors even if it wasn't, in fact, haunted.

The walls were dressed with what he supposed was once a colorful paper wall, now faded to sickening pale mix shredded here and there. Too many paintings with clowns or a circus theme, some were still hanging in the walls, albeit crocked, most on the ground, a bit scratched or completely torn apart.

And it was just the vestibule; he didn't want to imagine the dining room or the master bedroom.

Beer cans and whisky bottles were scattered around on the floor, teenagers looking for a secluded place, he supposed. That was probably also why the door opened so easily. The reek of alcohol and sick reminded him of his time with Cross and so he concluded he didn't like this room.

With luck, the stupid teenagers were the ones behind all the rumors and he was free to go once he looked around the house.

Hoping so, he took a flashlight out of his briefcase and directed his attention to the three other closed doors in the room, each one in a different wall. Carefully not to step in anything that looked suspicious, he made his way to the closest door to his right. Trying the knob didn't work, which probably explained the many cracks it had, as if someone had tried opening it forcefully.

"Teenagers with anger management issues" he muttered to himself, snickering once he thought that that was exactly what Kanda would do.

He tried the others doors, each as solid as the first. He sighed once again, not really sure if that was a good or a bad sign. Good because probably the rest of the house wasn't as thrashed as the room he was in, bad because if nobody could go to the other rooms then activity in there could only be paranormal.

He checked outside through one of the windows to the front garden. The light was slowly growing fainter and probably in no more than half an hour darkness would take over. Lavi and Kanda were nowhere to be found.

"Not even five minutes they waited… How nice, now I'll have to spend the night in the house," he frowned, really hoping that the rest of the house was decent enough to find somewhere to sleep.

Pushing all thoughts that weren't needed at the moment to the back of his mind, he just took out of his briefcase a lock pick set and checked out the intricate lock of the door to the left, but before he could even get to work on it, it soundlessly opened.

He should have looked pretty stupid just crouching there, lock picks in the air and eyes wide open. He wanted to think that the door had finally given in after so many years of enduring kicks.

Determined not to lose a minute more of natural light, he put back his instruments in his briefcase and went past the door, closing it behind him and disappeared into the yet unexplored room.

**XXXX**

"See! You scared Allen at least!"

"Good, I hope he doesn't come back."

"You are insufferable sometimes," Lavi sighted defeated, rubbing his head where he hit the ground once Kanda broke loose. He didn't get how a lean body like his could be so strong.

"Could say the same about you, all the time," was Kanda's answer as he fixed his hair that had come undone in the struggle.

"Haa… Come on, have you calmed down?"

"Do you know that most of the time that kind of question just adds to someone's anger?" the never leaving scowl in his face just deepened, though he couldn't deny that he had more or less calmed down.

"Whatever, he just ran into the house. Go after him," anyway, how dirty was the ground? The dust just kept coming off his clothes no matter how much he tried to shake it off.

"So you want me to kill him after all?" Kanda raised an eyebrow at Lavi, maybe he wasn't as idiotic as he always thought.

"No! For once, just pay attention!" he could seem pretty happy and careless all the time but, "the kid just ran agitated into a most probably haunted house, and I have the feeling we're underestimating the situation."

"You go then. He said we could leave if we wanted, so I'm leaving," if the Moyashi died, then it was one worry less for him.

"You are also worried, right? Tell me that deep, deep inside, you are at least a tiny little bit worried, Yuu-chan, I know you."

"Don't call me Yuu-chan, stupid rabbit!"

'_You didn't deny it, though,'_ Lavi thought, finally a smile back at his face, he knew that that was the closest to a positive answer he could get from Kanda. "So I leave this to you, try not to kill him. I'll go into town to get as much information as possible at this hour and then I'll come back."

Kanda che'd at Lavi's retreating back, but he preferred dealing with the kid before trying to get information out of people. He didn't want to end at the police station again.

Going up the steps to the door, Kanda tried opening it, puzzled when it didn't open like it did with the Moyashi. Great, he had locked himself inside. Now he could go back and say that the kid didn't let him in, it wasn't his fault. He turned around and started walking back to the hotel.

…

"Fuck!" he run up the steps and started pounding at the door, "Moyashi! You in there?"

Silence was his answer.

He glued his ear to the door. Still nothing.

The reasonable decision now was to throw down the door, but it didn't even move when he kicked it. The windows were high enough that he couldn't reach them without something to step on. Cursing all the way, he walked around the house, noting that the back door was as closed as the front one.

So, how could doors of an abandoned house hold so firm? Easy, it didn't want to let you in.

Rumors sometimes weren't unfounded after all. The house could be haunted. And the stupid Moyashi was locked inside. It wasn't that often that a new true exorcist appeared, to lose a potential one wasn't the best of the options, but if he got trapped inside, something happened and he couldn't handle himself, then once again, he wasn't a true exorcist. Even so, the lost would lie in his hands…

Looking around, Kanda spotted the branch of a tree close to a window. That would have to do for an entrance.

* * *

**_So, hi~ I hope you enjoyed it so far. And yeah, in this AU they are kind of like "real exorcists"? With more of a liberal approach, but anyways… This is kind of the introduction to the prologue, or something. If I wanted to post it whole, it could have ended too long or too rushed, so I'll just publish this and think if I end it after the 'prologue' is over or continue it into eventual Yullen or Laven. The next chapter should be ready soon.  
_****_And what do you think of my pathetic attempt to mix humor, mystery and some kind of horror? I'd love to hear your thoughts, and I'm sorry for any typos or awkward use of tenses, if you could point them out it'd be lovely~_**


	2. Long Prologue

_Disclaimer:_ I don't own D. Gray-Man, I forgot to add this last time, but you know it already…

* * *

_A long prologue…_

The room he walked into didn't show any recent interaction, a thick layer of dust covering everything.

The place seemed decorated by a schizophrenic. A paper wall similar to the one in the previous room but better conserved with vibrant colors. The furniture consisted of two bright orange love seats and a deep purple armchair disposed surrounding a round white coffee table in the center, everything on top of what was once a red carpet. To an open side of the circle, there was a big bare brick fireplace.

The same kind of paintings were hanging on the walls and from the rooftop hung a multicolored chandelier. To the right from the door he came from, there was a light wood colored bookshelf.

So far, it was just a bad taste and poor color combination, if not a curious mix with the couches facing away from each other, their backs to the center of the circle.

There were also toys thrown around in the floor, small colored balls oddly with no dust on them.

Noting two doors in the general direction, Allen walked to the bookshelf and ran a finger on the surface, discovering that under all the dust, it was actually a bright yellow. He frowned at the way the books were arranged, horizontally piled with their backs in a manner that if you wanted to see the titles, you had to take a whole lot down.

Deciding that it was better to take a look before going on, he grabbed a bunch and settled them on top of the coffee table kenneling down beside it. They were all children books, most of them Dr. Seuss ones. They seemed read and reread, a particular one was specially tattered: "If I Ran the Circus".

There was a small noise coming from the corner with the toys when he turned a page with his left hand, his right one holding his flashlight. Startled, Allen resisted the urge to reach for salt and make a circle, and considering it the wise thing to do, returned the books to their rightful place in the bookshelf.

He went to one of the doors, this one was in the same wall that the one he came from, probably a bathroom he told himself and proved it when the door opened revealing a colorful half bathroom.

It was funny how creepy all the colorful things were.

As monochrome as he was, he'd look completely out of place in the house's better years.

Closing the door, he directed his attention to the other one, glad when it opened with no efforts.

Another colorful room, the dining room, even creepier than what he was expecting but nothing out of place in general (well, if he ignored the chairs on top of the table, some turned around pictures and the glass on the table that seemed like it was recently used).

There was an open door that probably led to a kitchen and a closed door that hopefully led to somewhere actually productive.

There was close to no light coming from the windows anymore, he wanted to hurry, couldn't something happen already? Sighing out of boredom, he opened the door, and cue the last famous words, a loud clatter could be heard from one of the rooms upstairs, the main staircase lying in front of him.

Assessing the situation, what would be best? Run for the hills o make a salt circle and lay down hugging holy water till dawn came and then run?

"Fuck! Shit! Stupid house! Who the hell would leave balls around a fucking window?!"

Something told him that salt and holy water wouldn't ward him against who was screaming upstairs.

"Oi, stupid Moyashi! Where are you?! Are you de-?!"

After that there were some muffled words and a loud slam, then a slam closer to him. Turning around, he saw that the door he had just gone through had closed of its own accord. He supposed that no lock pick would work, not in this door, the ones behind the stairs nor the one directly in front of them. Only course of action possible: go upstairs and hope that whatever happened to Kanda would stop him from killing him.

"Argh! Get off!" Kanda's scream came, making Allen jump and run up the steps without further thought, suspecting that the carpet on the stair was trying to make him trip.

Following the now muffled "argh"s, he came to a stop in front of the open door of a room slightly to the left. The scene developing in front of his eyes and the sheer ridicule of it brought him back to earth to think about what he should do.

Let's say, what was the proper thing to do if you found yourself at the door of a room in a haunted house in which a Japanese madman was running around trying to peel a clown mask off his face that refused to let go with one hand while waving a katana with the other in hopes it would cut the clown's balls that were chasing after him? And with "clown's balls" referring to the big balls that clowns balanced on top.

Well, exorcist or not, he was a human being with emotions, so, of course, he laughed.

Then, there was a moment of silence in which only his loud laugh could be heard before he realized the stillness of the previously animated room and could control it.

Kanda's killer glare was directed at him (not a good thing at all), but after a moment, the objects seemed to be content with his laugher, for every ball that had stopped when he first came to the scene started to bounce in their place, as if the same bubbling laughter had taken over them. Hell, even the clown mask started moving its mouth and closing its eyes as if in a fit of laughter.

That gave Kanda the time to slice through the balls and concentrate solely in the task of taking the mask that threatened to move his face with its movements off. A scary thing if you asked Allen, seeing the grimace in Kanda's face at the same time his eyes were glaring bloody murder.

After a few seconds of staring at the fruitless efforts of his fellow exorcist, Allen decided to take action, if only to stops the shudders from horror going down his spine.

"Stay still Kanda, I'll help you" he said tentatively, approaching to him in the same way he would approach an unpredictable beast.

The mask had now complete control over Kanda's mouth, if not, judging by his eyes he would have been met with a ramble of curses.

Watching out for the sword that Kanda still held with one hand, Allen came closer to him, took his left hand glove off and grabbed the mask which instantly glowed green and detached itself from the Japanese's face, finally stopping its creepy movements and stilling at a sad expression. Poor mask, he just had to go and stop its amusement. He threw it on the ground, Kanda stabbed it without remorse.

"Che, so you aren't dead," Kanda said coldly as he sheathed his katana and turned around to analyze what was left of the balls, but Allen could swear he saw a faint blush in his face.

'_So he actually can feel something like embarrassment,' _Allen thought, trying to conceal his smile, _'demons may feel something once in a while, eh?' _or maybe it just was the struggle that had left him breathless. Whatever.

The moment of demonic cuteness was cut short when Kanda turned around, his expression the vivid image of antisocial.

"What is it with this hand?" he asked, suddenly grabbing hold of his left arm and bringing it close to his eyes, inspecting the scarred skin and cross shaped cut in the back of the hand.

Feeling slightly violated, Allen yanked his arm back, cradling it to his chest.

"This is my exorcist weapon, as you have your katana, I have my arm," he answered, looking straight ahead into the eyes that were glaring at him as if yanking his arm back was a mayor offence. "Not something that you should concern yourself with." He proceeded to put on his glove once again.

"Che, just don't bring it close to my face again then," he spat back, kicking out of his way the sad looking balls and walking to the door.

"Yeah, next time I'll just let you suffocate."

Allen noticed the broken glass of the windows, that should have been the clatter he heard before, Kanda's entryway, because doors were too mainstream for him. The balls he had complained about should be the now flat ones.

But what was with this room? Aside from the mentioned balls and mask, there were countless toys and tolls which their right place should be at a circus. Like a playroom of someone obsessed over it. He noticed a cradle against one of the walls.

Anyway, now it was crystal clear that the house was haunted, there was no denying it. Poltergeist, a ghost behind it, and a quite strong one at that if it could move so many things at once.

Now was the time their true work as exorcist started.

First, was to investigate the rumors and the house, check if there was something behind of supernatural character and not some pranks o unfounded fears over an old house.

Not unfounded fears this time. The rumors where previously taken care of by a "finder", the ones responsible of assessing if the situation merited a try or it was most probably nothing. They weren't wrong this time when they say that something strange was going on.

Now Lavi was hearing those rumors again, hoping that some of the information would come in hand. Sometimes, just by listening to a few stories you could tell what the cursed object was, that made the task easier. This time, however, dealing with a haunted house of this sort wasn't as easy. If a ghost was present, they would have to find the terrestrial connection it had left and sever it. It could be something like a "cursed object" too, but most of the times with ghosts there was just a wish, something left unaccomplished before they parted so they were still looking for it from the afterlife.

Something told him that the last case was the one they had to deal with here.

And that was the second part, where the real job of an exorcist started: search and find what held the spirits in between the worlds; and third: help them pass to the other side.

These were things that only a true exorcist was capable of, just someone open to understand and help, not to be afraid but to listen to what held them captives in an unending purgatory in Earth. If not, the ghost wouldn't answer as desired or could be set free around the world in a rampage.

"Fuck it, Moyashi! Why the hell do you space out so much?! We have work to do!" once again, his noble thoughts were broken by the annoying voice of the man that was now glaring at him from the corridor. "Or should I just lock you in here while I take care of it? That would be faster…"

"Shut up, this is my job," Allen said slipping outside of the room before the black haired man decided to take into action his thoughts.

Lavi had told Kanda not to kill the Moyashi; he would have to use all of his self-control.

"The house is big. We better separate to see if we find what it wants," Allen muttered, anything to get away from the PMSing Japanese.

"Che, fine," was muttered before Kanda disappeared to one side of the wide corridor, Allen walking in the opposite direction.

**XXXX**

He had been asking in the stores around for a while now. This was a small town, everyone knew each other, so how come nobody could tell him anything when he asked about the big abandoned house?! Judging by the way they shut up when he mentioned it, it was obvious that they knew, just that they didn't dare to talk about it.

It was getting late and cold, yet he hadn't found anything at all.

And he was sure someone was following him since a while ago, he was growing tired of it.

He turned around a corner and waited for them. It wasn't long before a figure walked into him and fell on the ground. Lavi, always the polite one, extended a hand to them and offered help. The startled person jumped to their feet, realizing they had been discovered. The sudden movement made them let go of the scarf around their head, revealing an aged face, brown hair with strands of white cascading around what he now knew was a woman, her blue eyes wide with fear.

"I'm sorry!" she all but screamed, before turning around and try to actually run away, if not for a hand that gently griped his wrist stopping her.

"There is no reason to be, or is there?" he asked, with a smile in his face, "but I would like to know why you were following me."

"I-I…" she stuttered, looking around the deserted street, "you were asking for information of the clowns' house, right?" the hurried mutter so soft Lavi had to lean close to hear. When no immediate answer came, she looked about to freak out.

"Yes, I was," he answered before the paranoiac woman could have a fit. "Can you tell me something about it?"

"…" she was biting her lip now, seeming conflicted if she should talk or not. "Not here, not where someone could overhear us… Come, my house is just a block away."

And so, he let himself be led to the house of the weird woman.

**XXXX**

This house was fucking insane.

Not as many assumed, most haunted houses were actually decent looking, but this… this should be a crime! Kanda hadn't ever seen something so elaborately hideous, as if they had searched for hours the most awful color combinations.

He had passed many rooms, each one trying to overdo the previous in its ugliness. And after that incident, nothing had happened. Creaks here and there, but no flying furniture nor anything of the kind. Maybe he had to break something, like the window, so the house would try to kill him and he could actually do something.

"This is so freaking boring," he said out loud, he shouldn't have come inside. The Moyashi was alright, and it looked like he actually had something to protect himself with. This house wasn't one to be exorcised in just a night; they would have to come once and again probably, know more of the general situation before going jumping around grabbing at thin air. "Fucking stupid creepy house, with a coward of a ghost afraid to come out, with no sense of décor, with idiotic Moyashi inside…"

He didn't miss the small movement in the corner of his eye.

"…And with stupid paintings of not funny clowns, well, not as if any clown was ever funny, as every circus, just a bunch of retards jumping around making a show of who is the weirdest one. I suppose that's why people go to watch circuses, so they can fell lucky that they are normal and not some useless freaks-"

Suddenly every eye in the paintings was staring at him, furniture, toys, even the floor trembling under him.

He smirked, just what he was expecting, and he had already checked around and there was no stupid mask in this room.

**XXXX**

Through the rooms he had looked around, nothing seemed out of place, just as out of place as the rest of the house. Weird colors, some chairs facing the walls, desks in a vertical position, couches in the middle of the room hindering the way, and the ever present toys.

The room he was in now was a little special. The door was a big arc, there was no furniture, just circus artifacts, going from the usual juggler balls to a stand and a circle as one used to make a beast jump through.

One of the walls was completely a built in closet, with mirrors in its doors. Inside were countless different costumes.

There was a loud sound coming from the corridor, from where Kanda was. Startled, he closed the closet's door he had been holding and half turned to look over his shoulder at the corridor. Should he go? Maybe he was being attacked once again by a mask… Well, it wasn't his problem, right?

Halfheartedly, he turned back to the mirror and was frozen still at what he saw reflected on it.

Over his shoulder, there was the image of a clown mask, smiling with the sickening smiles they always had, as if inviting him to laugh with it. Slowly, he turned around and found that besides the floating mask there was also a pair of gloves holding three small balls.

The apparition retroceded until it was some meters away from him and started juggling. The mask first seemed to concentrate in doing it right, and then it was looking at him, smiling with a bigger empty smile and slowly advancing forward, as if inviting him to laugh.

He tried, he seriously tried to laugh at the small spectacle, but there was just too much creepiness to it for his laugher to sound authentic.

The smile quickly slid out of the mask, the balls hitting its top. But it only took a second for the crest fallen expression to light up with a new idea for a show. It acquired some clown shoes that probably once were red, now brown. Jumping on top of one of the bigger balls, it started balancing itself, throwing the shoes one side and the other before placing them back on the ball.

If Allen tried really hard, maybe there was something funny about it, so he let out a small laugh.

It wasn't enough to convince the "clown" that he was having fun, the sad expression returned and he jumped to balance itself with his hand on the ball, the shoes in the air, an expectant look directed at Allen.

This was just sad; he couldn't even conjure a fake smile anymore.

Completely disheartened, the "clown" threw itself on the floor and started… to whimper?

Without even knowing what he was supposed to do in this kind of situation, Allen knelt beside the trashing figure and tried some comforting words.

"It was great, I wish I was able to do that!" though he actually was able…

The mask looked up, some hope back to its demeanor. The invisible figure jumped back to it shoes with a new resolution. It went to the closet and pulled out a clown outfit. Then it pushed it towards Allen.

Maybe his choice of words wasn't the smartest.

* * *

_**I feel like this chapter is boring… Too much description maybe? I just want to get out of the introductory stuff… Well, next chapter should have more action, and hopefully something that at least scratches "horror". Or humor. But I find horror funny most of the times so it's the same, kinda… right?**_

_**Anyways, thanks for the reviews/favorite/alerts! I love to know that at least someone is enjoying what I write. As always, critics and thoughts are well welcomed :)**_


	3. Loong Prologue

Disclaimer: I don't own Man.

* * *

Kanda cut through everything that came at him without batting an eye, he could deal with this kind of weak attack automatically, but hell if it didn't help let out some stress. Sadly enough it ended after a few minutes, not a thing left to throw his way. The room was completely thrashed, it looked better like that if you asked him.

He was half expecting to run into Allen at the door in his way out, find him hurriedly making his way to "help", startled by the noises. Certainly not dressed like a clown on top of a ball speeding his way. No, that was one of the last possibilities he would have thought of. He couldn't believe his eyes, yet the boy kept coming his way.

"What the hell are you doing?!" he asked-shouted retreating into the doorway where the ball couldn't go in. "Stop playing around!"

"I'm not! It's moving on its own! I swear!" came the agitated response, the boy too concentrated in not falling to even look up. "Help me?!"

Exhaling a sigh of resignation, Kanda unsheathed Mugen and pierced the ball when it came in level with the door. It quickly lost its air and a few meters ahead stopped completely flat against the floor, the moyashi lying face down next to it.

"What was that?"

"Dunno, poltergeist?"

"Where is your exorcist attire and briefcase?"

"In some room down the corridor."

"Why are you wearing that… costume?" Kanda was growing progressively annoyed at the lack of attention Allen was paying him.

"It asked me to… Well, more like forced to."

Kanda scoffed, an exorcist that let himself be ordered around by a ghost. Was there really any value to him as an exorcist? Maybe it was best for everyone if he killed him right now and said that a giant ball had run over him. That wouldn't be so far from the truth if he wasn't there.

"Get up, Moyashi," he said as he walked past him, planning to keep on checking the last rooms and just ignore the kid.

"You know, my name is Allen," he said as he got up on his feet dusting the ridiculous outfit.

"Yeah, tell someone who cares," Kanda said, opening the next door.

"Anyways," Allen said hurrying after Kanda, his flashlight the only source of light around. "I checked all the rooms in that end, besides the last one where I found this… 'clown', there was nothing worth mentioning. Maybe we should inspect it further?"

"Yeah, go do that," Kanda answered offhandedly, checking the bedroom they'd walked into. "And change from that stupid thing," he turned around to glare at Allen's new clothes, the garments more befitting for a jester than a clown, with stripped leggings and those way too short shorts pants. He averted his gaze before it drifted too far.

"Well," Allen could feel the blood rushing to his face as he griped the hem of his shorts pants to try to make them cover a bit more, "maybe if I complied with what it wanted, I could have gotten a better grasp of the situation."

"I don't care if you want to dress up as the fool you are and say it was part of the mission," Kanda started going through the bedside trying to ignore Allen that was a few feet behind him just standing still. "Go do whatever you have to and don't bother me."

"Huh… I, kind of, when I was doing what the clown wanted, well, left my flashlight with my clothes and briefcase," the white-haired teenager suddenly found a great interest in the oddly colored wood floor.

"God, are you useless! Are you scared of the house and can't make your way in the darkness? Does the kid need a babysitter to help him change his clothes?" Kanda mocked and smirked as he actually felt the glare on his back.

"…I hope your hair chokes you in your sleep," Allen muttered under his breath, the confused glare the other threw his way saying that he hadn't really understood what he said, or maybe that it was a stupid comment. He cleared his throat to continue, "anyhow, I told you I finished that side, we have to go that way to get to the staircase to the third floor so it's pointless making the trip twice. Meanwhile I better help you with… that bookshelf, yeah. I'll be there if you need me," he said to the back of the man searching through the drawers, he probably wasn't even listening anymore, the jerk.

The books were arranged in the same manner that the ones he'd found in the living room before, that wouldn't make the task any easier, but it was fairly far from the Japanese man and the moonlight coming through the window beside it would help him.

He took a bunch of the most tattered books and sat cross legged in the square of light on the floor. He supposed this was a kid's bedroom, more so seeing all the children's books that surrounded him, but in this house one couldn't tell anyway, everything looked childish enough to suppose that the house was only habited by children.

He flipped through the pages of the book he had currently in his lap, searching for maybe something between them as the book didn't seem any special. He then shook it some to see if something came out of it, nothing did and he put it aside. When he was reaching for the next book with his left arm, he saw the cross in the back of his hand softly glow confined in his glove.

Interested, he opened the old book. What he saw in the yellowed pages made him open his eyes wide.

"Screw me if I'm wrong, but I think I'm into something here…"

"I hope you are right," came the uninterested answer from behind him as a hand snatched the book from his grasp. "No one would want to screw you."

"It's a figure of speech, but maybe your brain is too small to understand," Allen rolled his eyes as he stood up, the gesture completely lost to Kanda. When he didn't hear any retort, he turned around to look at the older. He seemed in deep thought while he flipped through the pages.

"The hell? 'Magnus Circus'? That's a lame name," he said slamming the book shut. "You say this is cursed or something?"

"Not quite, but seems like a picture journal or somethi-" he was interrupted by Kanda throwing the book his way, barely catching it before it hit the floor. "What was that for?!"

"Let's give it a try," the tall man said drawing his Mugen from the sheath.

"Wait! I wasn't thinking this was cursed, but it can tell us something!" he retreated with the book hugged to his chest, Kanda matching his steps. Allen didn't doubt that the man would stab him with the book if necessary and seeing how the wall was getting closer to his back he decided to make a stand. "Don't you see this is a good way to find what the ghost wants? I mean, it looks like he planned to make his own circus…"

"Wasn't that clear when it recruited you as a clown?" the Asian raised an eyebrow at him, surely the boy should have guessed that by now.

"Yes, but look here," he flipped the book open and showed a page to Kanda, "the clown is… getting eaten by a lion…" he frowned at the bad example that wouldn't help make his point. "Anyway, the book can tell us what it wants to happen in his circus. Maybe we just need to reenact what's in the book."

"As much as I would like seeing you being eaten by a lion, I don't think we could find any around here. Better deal with the book now than wait for it to come bite our asses later," Kanda reasonably enough retorted.

"Even so, the point is that we should use it as a guide," Allen's back was to the wall now, but hell if he was going to allow the other to destroy the book that was probably the best clue they would find. "It's not cursed, I can assure you, but there seems to be a strong connection between it and the ghost that haunts the house."

"And why is it that you think so?" the black haired man was losing his patience, and before Allen could open his mouth, he pressed the tip of his katana to the boy's neck. "And don't say some fucked up shit like 'my hand told me.'"

Allen could deal with verbal threats, but when it came down to a sword being pressed to his neck, it was hardly surprising for him to snap. "My hand told me," his lips stretched with a smile that contrasted the icy words slipping from his mouth as he gripped the blade with his left hand to force it aside, ignoring the pain that shot through his arm and the blood that was dying his glove.

Kanda, shocked by the change of demeanor of the boy, allowed Mugen to be pushed aside and slowly lowered it. Letting a 'che' escape his lips, he stepped back and turned around to walk towards the door.

"Have it your way then, don't come crying later."

Allen was left alone in the dimly lit room, it seemed like the two of them couldn't share the same air for more than a few minutes without a fight. He set himself to inspect the book further while Kanda presumably looked around the other room. His hand was starting to sting.

And he would have to go for his flashlight in complete darkness after all.

**XXXX**

Why the hell had he come here again? Oh, right, to assist the Moyashi in his first mission for the order and see if he was qualified as an exorcist. Well, he obviously fucking wasn't. He should have stabbed him with the book after all.

"Benefit of the doubt my ass," he muttered while he looked around what should be the master bedroom, the room as empty as any other. Of course it had a bed, bedside tables, a dresser, a desk and the ever present paintings, but if it weren't for the king-sized bed, he couldn't have guessed it was the master bedroom.

It just seemed too impersonal, oddly enough even counting the peculiar decoration style into the equation. Maybe it was the fact that no one had lived in the house for decades, but haunted houses always had the feeling of still being lived in, not as if nobody had ever set a foot on. This house was just unnerving, beside the insane obsession with everything related to the circus, one couldn't tell anything about its former residents. Maybe there was nothing besides that.

Rummaging through a drawer full of women underwear, he touched something hard. Taking a few seconds to pray to whatever god would hear him for it not to be what he thought it was, he parted the clothes and released a sigh of relieve when he was met with a leather bound book, papers popping out from every side. Maybe praying worked after all.

He sat himself at the desk and opened what he assumed was a diary, immediately being met by a photography, a couple in their thirties and a boy about eight years old smiling tiredly at him. I the first page read 'Jacqueline Magnus' written in a curving handwriting. After that, it was chaos.

Pages were torn, text written over other or crossed over, stains of inks everywhere, nothing truly legible.

When he was flipping through the book, one page that wasn't bound to the diary came out of it and landed on top of the desk. The ink was a bit smeared over, as if it hadn't completely dried before it was stuffed between the others. Kanda made an effort and read what it said.

'_I can't take this anymore. I can't wait for Mary to grow stronger, We can't wait. She will be sane, unlike the other one. Now that he is gone we can be normal and leave this damned house. I should have listened to mother and never married Fabian. Now I'm alone. No. I have Mary. What to do about Anthony? Maybe it's not too late to make him right, but I can't, I don't want him near Mary. Mary will be sa—'_

The writing abruptly stopped, but at least he had some insight of the crazy owners. Now, should he cut this book?

**XXXX**

Allen slowly made his way through the dark corridor, his eyes fixed in the weak light of his still lit flashlight filtering from the last door.

He'd discovered some things in the picture journal, for instance, the kid's name was Anthony Magnus, he dreamed of his own circus –'Magnus Circus'-, and that somebody had altered his drawings. In fact, the clown thing wasn't being eaten by a lion to begin with, he had his head between the open mouth of the animal before someone roughly drew the jaws closing around his neck. He didn't think that was Anthony's latest dream though, the traces were different.

That specific clown was in most (if not every) act, with the same attire and white hair. He was shorter than the rest of the performers, Allen couldn't guess if it was because he was a child or an old man. And all in all, Allen thought it looked like a childish drawing of him at the moment.

He was glad when he reached the room with no incidents whatsoever. He grabbed his flashlight that was resting on top of his clothes and put on his coat. As much as he wanted to change from his costume, he supposed he'd have to perform for the ghost or something, so he reluctantly folded his clothes and stuffed them into his briefcase, cursing how small it was.

Not wanting to wait for something to happen, he made his way back to the corridor and to the staircase, where he could see a second light approaching from the other end.

Kanda seemed like he had calmed down a bit at least, now he was just completely ignoring him. The numb throb in his hand told him that that was far better than his other mood.

Without exchanging a word, they went up the stairs to the third floor, the air getting colder with each step. Up there, there was just an empty room and a big double door. Allen tried the handle, the door didn't open. Looking at the many locks the door had he sighed, this would take a while.

"Move aside."

A second late and he'd have been cut with the door.

* * *

_**Long prologue is long. Hope you don't dislike it.**_


	4. Looong Prologue

Disclaimer: I don't own Man.

* * *

"Please take a seat," said the woman, showing Lavi into a cozy living room. "Would you like some tea?"

"No, thank you. I'd prefer if we got down to business," Lavi answered making himself comfortable in a couch with the friendliest smile he could conjure.

The woman smiled and disappeared into what he supposed was the kitchen. Some minutes later she came back with a tray with a teapot and teacups, setting one in front of him on the coffee table. Lavi frowned, but waved it off deciding that it was better to let the woman have her way if that made her open up to him.

"You're not the first person that came to the town looking for information on the house," she said while she poured tea and settled down in an armchair across him. "So, tell me, how can I be sure that you are not one of those idiotic kids wanting to make a 'ghost film'?"

"Well, did you talk to any of those kids? I don't think they'd know much about the matter at hand."

"Certainly I did not. No one said a word to them, so they ended just going into the house and getting scared off," she scoffed and drank a sip of her tea, but behind the controlled act she was pulling now, Lavi could see her hand holding the teacup tremble.

"And why is it now that you are speaking to me, then?" Lavi asked, his smile never wavering.

"Because not long ago a group of people came, they seemed… let's say, _'particular'_, all dressed in those strange light colored attires and acting like weirdoes," Lavi supposed that she was talking about the finders and suppressed a chuckle, they could seem quite _special _sometimes. "They ran some tests around, I don't know, with electromagnetic detectors and so on. They went in the house to plant some kind of cameras and what not," the woman seemed disgusted at that, maybe it was best not to talk about how they were related.

"That the house is off limit is a general knowledge in town. Nobody was content with those people messing around. The police tried to intervene, but it was no good, they had the owner's approval… And so, we came to know that they wanted the house exorcised for real. It's better to leave it alone, most people think, but… maybe he doesn't want to stay there anymore. That's why I'm talking to you; you are with those people, aren't you?"

"Well… I could ask how you came to that conclusion…" Lavi trailed off, "but, I'm more interested in what you said before… he doesn't want to stay? Who is _he_?"

"He…" the woman sighed. "If I'm going to talk about this, introductions first."

"You can call me Lavi, from the Black Order."

"Christina Robinson, a pleasure. And drink some tea; youngsters these days don't take time to appreciate simple things." Lavi glanced at the brownish liquid and tasted some. It had no sugar and he decided to maybe leave it for later.

"So, could you talk to me about what is in the house?" Lavi said ignoring the glare Christina directed at him when he put his full teacup back on the coffee table.

"It's not _what, _it's _who._ And that would be Timothy," she said, leaving her empty teacup besides Lavi's. "He was an… acquaintance of mine. He has been dead for 46 years now. We knew each other when we were 6 years old, he died with 9."

Christina seemed sad at the memories, but Lavi wouldn't let her stop there now that he got someone who would talk to him.

"May I ask how he died?" she seemed uncomfortable with the question, but even so she answered.

"He was… killed," Lavi could see her gulp, "by his mother…"

**XXXX**

"You could have killed me!" Allen shouted, his words falling in deaf ears.

"I warned you, and I already regret it," Kanda said walking past him and over what was left of the door. He would take extra care of Mugen when he got back, but now he wanted to finish this stupid mission, couldn't the stupid ghost appear and be done with? He was getting bored and annoyed thanks to the retarded Moyashi.

"You prick…" the white haired boy muttered before following Kanda into the room. His next words were swallowed at the sight of the room.

If the rest of the house was decorated after some circus theme, it fell far behind this room. The house was large, every room was far bigger than it was needed, and this room in particular consisted in the whole third floor sans the staircase.

From the roof hung bright colored fabrics, hiding from view the foundation, round pillars for support were similarly dressed with painted bulbs surrounding them. Directly in front of the door and one foot over the floor level, stood a checkered stage in gold and red, bleachers forming a semicircle around it opened at the center letting a thick with dust carpet guide them from where they stood to the stage. A heavy red curtain enclosed the area, separating what the spectators were to see and what was hiding behind scenes, parted only at the back of the stage.

An exclamation of amazement escaped Allen's lips, Kanda just voicing a 'che' before he made his way to the bleachers, sitting carelessly in the front row.

"Go make your act, fool," he said to Allen mockingly, an amused smirk on his lips.

If only he could wrap his fingers around that slender neck and press strongly for a minute… But he had to exorcise this ghost first, that would have to come second in his list. "Fuck. You."

"You wish."

"Not in your dirtiest dreams," Allen scowled before his face relaxed and released a sigh of resignation. He walked the path towards the stage and around it, going through the opening of the curtains to drop his coat and briefcase before looking around for something he could use.

Maybe he shouldn't have left the journal in its place but brought it with him, now it was too late and he'd have to remember the best he could what was possible and what wasn't. Thinking about the basics, he grabbed some juggling balls and made his way back to the stage.

He hesitated a little before stepping in the stage, but there was no use in delaying the inevitable. Kanda straightened from his sprawled position looking at the ceiling and glanced at him.

"You are gonna juggle?" he asked incredulous. "I thought you were going to follow the book, where is the lion?" and he actually snickered to Allen's dismay.

"Shut up. Why don't you come here then and do something better?" he argued back.

"No lion, not interested," said Kanda in the most annoying voice possible as he shrugged his shoulders.

"If you dyed your hair bright orange, I'm sure you could pass for one," and ignoring the disgruntled protests of his companion, Allen dropped on the ground what he wouldn't need for now and started juggling with three balls. The hand he hadn't had time to bandage protested, the cut across its palm burning. Allen winced as the balls hit the floor, a miscalculation of strength sending them out of the desired trajectory.

"You call that a performance?" Kanda helpfully supplied his opinion. Allen just glared at the balls, his hand and finally Kanda. He made to pick them up again; if he was waiting for the pain in his hand, he should be able to juggle without much trouble.

As his fingers grazed the closest ball, he froze. All the lights flicked on, focusing in his crouched form, the attraction of the show, and loud music started playing. The balls rolled towards him, and he stood up clutching them as he tried to block the blinding light with his forearm. He threw a questioning look Kanda's way and saw that the Japanese man was as surprised as him. Was the electric current even working before? Though he didn't try, he just assumed…

"No, the lights didn't work before," Kanda answered his unspoken question as he stood up in alert, Mugen in his hand. "Keep your stupid act, it seems to be working."

He didn't need to be told twice to resume juggling, this time ignoring his aching hand, Kanda keeping an eye in their surroundings as Allen focused in maintaining a good rhythm. The next foreign movement they saw was a ball from the pile Allen had left in the floor fly to Allen's hands, and when he adjusted his movements to include it in his juggling many more followed after.

Allen struggled to keep his pace and add the ever coming new balls. Applause and laugher started to echo in the room as he finally found balance, costumes once hidden behind the curtains filling the bleachers as spectators.

Kanda first reaction was to cut the closest one, which just fell to the ground in a heap.

If Allen was glad at first for only bringing a few balls to the stage, he regretted it now as all kind of objects started to make their way from behind him to his hands.

After the first, came the second and the third destroyed costume, and as he went on and on, Allen's act became more lively.

"Kanda! Stop!" he shouted, desperation obvious in his tone. "I can't…!" the pile of objects he was juggling with was starting to tire him, he knew he wouldn't be able to jump on top of the big ball rolling around the stage and gradually approaching him without dropping everything, hatches and throwing knives included. He was deeply aware how this act ended in the altered book: the clown crushed under the weight of everything it was juggling with.

Kanda stopped slicing the clowns for a second to assess Allen situation and frown deeper at how fast it had escalated. Nothing good would come out of it if it continued. He made to step into the stage but as he got a foot on, a ball flew from Allen's hands into the mask of a clown behind Kanda, he having avoided it in the last second. "What the…" he didn't finish as he saw the knives shake in midair and retreated from the stage, not really knowing what to do next.

Allen swiftly looked around and his left eyes caught sight of an especially enthusiast clown, smaller than all the others, he faintly could make the figure of a boy inside the costume. "One… to your right…" he gasped as he moved away from the big ball course. "Smaller…"

He was glad when Kanda understood without further explanation and went to cut through the merry clown, but he was a second too late and the fabrics hit the floor without even gracing his katana.

Even so, the spell was broken, all clowns fell to the floor and Allen was able to drop the objects one by one before falling on his knees panting for air. He noticed the lights were still on. Maybe this wasn't a good idea after all.

**XXXX**

"The Magnus made it big in the toys industry. They loved children and so put a great dedication into their work. When they came to this town they were already quite rich. The house took years to be built, and then came the couple, George and Larissa Magnus. She was pregnant of three months. They lived in the time my grandfather was here, but the stories are well known between those that have been in this town for generations.

"They were happy with the promise of the new addition, but life loves irony, and so, when the child was born, he took the woman's life away. George Magnus was heartbroken, but he loved his newborn son even so and did the impossible to keep him alive. He sold his company and dedicated all his time to him. The child name was Fabian.

"Fabian grew up and his love for children was at pair with his father's, but… he wasn't completely healthy mentally speaking. Maybe it was too much love. He was obsessed over toys, over children, over fun. But he was a good man. He got married with a girl he met when he was studying in London, Jacqueline. When he came back, his almost insane obsession over kids was gone. Then, George died.

"Fabian went back to his devotion and throwing all his education through the window, he left his pregnant wife at the house and left to travel with a circus as a clown.

"Timothy was born and grew up under his mother loving hand until his fifth birthday, when his father came back for the first time since he was born. Jacqueline welcomed him with open arms when he said he wanted to go back to his old life, after all it was his money they were living of.

"Even when he'd promised to go back to normal, he transformed the house. I went often to play with Timothy and the house was hideous, as if someone had eaten and puked a circus over it. Poor Jacqueline couldn't do a thing, she was a nice woman, but weak. And so, Fabian taught Timothy all the 'magnificence' of a circus. By the time I met him, he was set in the idea of becoming a clown just like his father.

"I said I was an acquaintance of him, but in truth, I was the closest to a friend he ever had. Everyone at school laughed at him, but of course, he was a 'clown', he thought they laughed _with_ him. It became worse when it came to light that Fabian in his little circus adventure had spent most of his father's fortune, all that was left was the house.

"Timothy didn't care though, as happy going and friendly as he acted, he lived in his own small world. The only reason he became close to me was because that damned story he loved, "If I Ran the Circus". You see, it was about a boy that mounted a circus behind a store, the old owner of it being the main performer in the end. My father had a store, behind it there was nothing at the time. He was always talking to me about what my old father could do for his circus.

"And so he grew, with all those crazy ideas in his head.

"When he was about 8 years old, his father began to feel his… abstinence from the circus. He would mount small acts for Timothy, spent most of his time in the third floor where he had mounted a small circus. But that was not enough to settle his urges, he became an alcoholic. Then, one day, he realized that it had ruined his life. He sobered up, something weird for him at the time, and proclaimed that the next day, he would throw away all the clown stuff and return the house to its grandness, fix their lives.

"He never woke up again, a cardiac arrest was said. I can't say if Jacqueline was sad or relived at the moment, but months later it was known that the last gift her husband left her had been another child.

"_This one will be a sane one_, she once told me. She tried getting rid of everything while Timothy wept, but it was no use. Every time she tried to break something, put them in a trash bag, leave them in the front yard so the collector would take them, they would appear in the house again or she would suffer an accident. After one time she was trying to bring down some costumes and fell from the stairs, she resigned; maybe after she gave birth she would try again.

"My father died around the time. I didn't go to the house anymore.

"The child was born, a girl called Mary. All I know after that is that some months later Jacqueline was taken to prison for the murderer of her two children. She hung herself with the sheets of her bed in her cell.

"The house was passed to her strangled sister, as she was the only relative alive. She came once to check the house, never came back. Put it into sale, no one bought it. It became known as haunted. People would come just to see it. For a while, it was like a tourists' attraction. Then, only 'ghost hunters' and the like would come and run away when they got hurt, never anything serious, some broken bones at most and stories of ghost clowns that wanted to force them to become one themselves.

"We call it the "Clowns' house" for that reason, and it's considered a taboo between us. After all, nobody here lent a hand to the family when they needed it.

"I believe the 'clowns' is actually Timothy playing around, he has his circus now… But what good is a circus with no spectators? He is trapped in his own dream…"

Christina finished her long story, her voice emotionless through the entire tale, as if saying something she had thought over and over.

Lavi had been silent the whole time, trying to figure if she was leaving something out. He didn't think she was hiding anything.

"Can you do something?" her gaze that had been fixed in a spot on the floor while she was talking was directed at him. "Can you help him?"

"Well, I came with two other partners, right now they should be exploring the house and seeing what can be done. By the story you told me, it shouldn't be hard, if you excuse me I'll go let them know right away," Lavi said while standing up, he spared a look at his now cold tea and took a deep breath before he gulped it all down. "Thank you for the tea," he grimaced before lifting his briefcase and leaving the house in a hurry.

As he had thought at first glance, this mission wasn't that of an easy one. The finders couldn't find any rumors to be true and had mostly based their judgment in the activity registered and almost harmless accidents, he wasn't that worried about the kid, Timothy, it shouldn't be much of a problem to solve his case, but a drunken ghost was another story.

If he was right, Kanda and Allen could be in a pinch walking around aimlessly. Hopefully, they wouldn't push any wrong button.

* * *

_**Sorry for the long wait! I got tied in real life…**_

_**Anyways, here you have chapter 4, and since I seem too incompetent to efficiently write a multi chaptered story, next will be the last chapter…**_

_**Hope you liked it, reviews and critics are more than welcome as well as grammatical corrections. Thank you for reading! **_


End file.
